One More Duet
by TheRumbleroar
Summary: Written for the Quartie Ficathon- but will be continued past January. Quinn and Artie are paired for a Duet. Changed rating for some stuff mentioned in later chapters.
1. The Assignment

_Written for the Quartie Ficathon. I came up with these ideas before I saw them in the prompt. _

_Disclaimer: I don't own Glee or any of the songs mentioned  
_

**Glee Rehearsal- 4:00 January 3, 2011**

"OK guys, welcome back after a hopefully relaxing winter break," Mr. Schu came walking into the choir room at a brisk pace holding a top hat in one hand and a notepad in another.

"If by relaxing you mean outlining five chapters for your AP World History class and doing 80 math problems then yes, I had the most relaxing break in history," Artie Abrams mumbled under his breath, still ticked about his teacher's fear of snow days.

"I'm sorry to hear about your break Artie, but mine was far worse as I had a cold for the entire two weeks, and I could not hit my full range even after I drank honey lemon tea every single second of the day and ate Ricola cough drops at an alarming rate, I don't see how you can even dare _suggest_ that—"

"Rachel! Will you shut up, I'm sure your voice was still better than all of ours combined." The choir room murmured in agreement at Santana's snide remark.

"Artie, Rachel, Santana- that's enough. I thought we went over this at sectionals, we are a team, and a dang good one. And to stress that point, I have come up with yet another, shall we dare say bonding assignment. This week you are going to do another round of duets!"

The choir room broke out into a chorus that was not exactly harmonized, "This is what we always do!"

"Come on Mr. Schu!"

"Can we do a dance number instead?"

"Can't you think of something more creative?"

"I was thinking of the perfect love hate relationship ballad for me and Finn to sing together once we got back after our musically deprived winter break, Mr. Schuster, and I'm glad to see that I have finally mastered telepathy after extensively reading the Self Teaching Guide to Telepathy that my dads got me for Hanukkah."

"Guys! Enough! There are a few catches- I have picked your partners according to who hasn't sung together yet and who's voices I think have a possibility of sounding good together, _then_ you will pick your song out of the hat, after that you two will make this song that is usually sung solo into a duet, and put a bit of your own spin on it." He waved the sparkly hat as members gave each other "the look."

"Well, I don't care who's my partner, just as long as I get the bigger solo." Mercades stage whispered to Tina who nodded ferverently back at her.

"Wait, what is the motivation here, because if the prize is not good than I am totally going to be spending more time shoveling dog poo than doing this crap assignment. And Breadstix better not be the prize because that is getting way too old."

"Well, Santana, the prize is getting to sing your duet at sectionals if you win, and seeing as last time you guys only voted on yourselves except for Finn and Rachel, Coach Beiste and I will be picking the winners.

"OK, here we go! Starting with Rachel and Sam, come up and pick your song."

Sam looked less than pleased and Rachel had look just above disappointment on her face as they walked up to the piano, until, "_Firework_ by Katy Perry? You have got to be kidding me." Everyone roared at their expressions until, "Be quiet, I know you are just jealous because we are going to make a smashing Broadway rendition of this awful song, come on Sam, we have to get working I can't let my creative juices just sit, they might spoil." She grabbed his wrist with a little more force than necessary and stomped out of the room.

"OK, then," Will continued, "Finn and Mercades you are next." Both looked confused about their partner as they walked up to the piano together to pull out a sheet that Will read out as, "_People Will Say We're In Love _from_ Oklahoma!_" Mercades looked horrified.

"Mr. Schu, how on earth am I supposed to dip my chocolate thunder in that song? I am no old-style musical girl" He shrugged at her and gave her a nonchalant nod of his head.

"How old are these 'Oklahoma' people anyways because I haven't heard of that band, ever."

"Gee Finn how dumb are you? _Oklahoma!_ is a freaking musical, not a band, even I know that." Santana snarled at him. The two glared at each other until Mercades huffed and pulled Finn out of the room.

"Alright up next, Quinn and," Quinn waited with bated breath, "Artie, come get your song." Quinn sighed; at least she and Puck weren't together, Artie was better than she could have hoped for.

Artie's body tensed, how on earth could he be seen singing a freaking duet with the most popular girl in school? Sure they had had their moments over the past year but they had barley even said one word to each other. He hoped with all his might that they would get a song that had nothing, nothing at all to do with romance or even friendship. Something about total awkwardness- that would be the perfect song for the two of them.

He held his breath until he heard Mr. Schu say five words that made him want the floor swallow him whole, "_I'm Yours_ by Jason Mraz."

_Please give me feedback!_


	2. Working in the Lab

**In chapter 1- when I wrote sectionals I meant regionals. **

**Thanks for the feedback- everything is appreciated!  
**

Awkwardly the two left the choir room (hearing Santana and Mike being assigned to _The Impossible Dream_) to go to the computer lab with the sheet music to _I'm Yours_ sitting on Artie's lap.

"So. Um Artie, I don't really know much about music, so I'm afraid I won't be much help with the arranging part," Quinn said, just above a whisper.

"Oh, that's ok, I'm sure that you will be helpful no matter what, and truth be told I don't know that much either, despite what some people may think."

"But you have arranged so many of the glee songs for us!"

"Well, yes I have, but I got a lot of help from my guitar teacher and my dad, who knows a lot about music." With a quiet "Oh" from Quinn the two entered the lab and chose the cleanest computer available.

"Artie, I'm just going to put it out there, I absolutely hate this song. It reminds me too much of… stuff. Sorry." A hint of rose appeared on her cheeks as she looked down to pick at her cuticles.

"Don't apologize, it reminds me of stuff too. Like at our eighth grade formal I asked someone to dance to this song and she just laughed and walked away." He suddenly turned a much deeper shade of red than Quinn and started to peel and stick the Velcro on his gloves. "Sorry, I don't want to go loading my troubles on you. I've already said too much already."

"No, it's really OK Artie, but I think we should get started on the assignment. I'll pull it up on YouTube if you take notes." Artie was slightly disappointed that they had to stop talking, but than shook himself mentally; this was Quinn Fabray, _the _Quinn Fabray who was probably going to get the entire cheerleading squad to slushie him the moment they left the lab. "Artie? I was asking you what you thought of singing the first stanza, then I would sing the second."

"Hmm… what? Oh yeah that sounds good." Artie though his face must be turning purple from embarrassment.

"Artie, why are you so nervous? It's not like I'm going to get the entire cheerleading squad to come slushie you after we're done here today."

"I'm sorry Quinn!" He gasped, "I-I-I I just well I'm sorry, normally I don't act this stupid, I'm just not having a good day." After about another thirty seconds of awkward silence he said slowly, "Do you think we should change the key? Because I can sing it fine, but if you would like it better a step up, that's fine with me."

"No, no the key is fine for me as well, I'm also assuming that I will be singing this up an octave, because I do not work the man voice well." Artie and Quinn were silent until a few moments later they burst out laughing, jokingly deciding that Artie would be singing in his falsetto voice, and Quinn in her best interpretation of a man's.

That conversation broke the ice, and the two worked on the arrangement until the bell rang. "I think we got a lot of work done, I'm going to take this to my dad, and we can work out the harmonies, if you want you could come over on Saturday and we could practice."

"Yeah that sounds great! Can I just get your number and address?" After they exchanged information, they walked out of the lab to hear Puck and Tina shouting at each other about their rendition of _Baby_ by Justin Bieber.

Quinn and Artie turned to each other and just smiled.


	3. Meeting the Family

**The Abram's House, Saturday 4:30**

Quinn turned into one of the upper middle class neighborhoods in Lima, looking down at the sheet with Artie's scrawl on it. She pulled up to a nice looking house with two boys playing football and yelling in the front yard. "Is this the Abram's house?" She called out from her prius.

"Yeah, it is. Artie is inside, he is expecting you." The older of the two answered her with a wink. Both of them looked like Artie without the blue eyes and the wardrobe.

"Great, thanks!" Ignoring his move she climbed the gradual cement ramp up to the front door.

Artie heard the car pull up, but not wanting to seem to eager he waited until he heard a soft knock on the front door. "I got it!" He opened the door to see Quinn standing there with her blonde hair blowing softly in the wind. "Hi Quinn! Come on in, and let me introduce you to my family."

"Thanks, you have a really nice house!" She stepped around him and took in her surroundings.

"Oh, well my aunt had a lot to do with it, she is an interior designer. Anyway, you might have noticed my obnoxious brothers outside; Jeremy is the oldest, if he didn't flirt with you than the apocalypse is coming." Suddenly he blushed, "Anyway, my youngest brother's name is Keith and he is thirteen and possibly the world's biggest prick." He said that last part in a whisper and blushed again as she let out a soft giggle.

"Oh Artie honey, is Quinn here?" A small middle aged woman came out of the kitchen, holding a tray of cookies, "Hi dear, my name is Caroline, it's nice to meet you, would you like a cookie, I just made them?"

"Laura, sweetie, how many times do I have to tell you? No sugar before they sing, it causes mucus buildup in their precious throats."

"And that would be my dad, Eric, the owner of the Lima Music Education Center. Mom, can you possibly save us some cookies from Jeremy and Keith?" He turned around and started to make his way down a hallway, "My room is down here, I thought that we could work in there, if we get lucky we might run into my two sisters, the nicer of my family."

"Wow, you sure have a big family. I wish I had a huge family, but it's just me and my sister."

"Oh well it sure gets crazy around here sometimes!" He pushed open the door to his room to find his sisters sitting on his bed reading his Star Wars books. "Katie, Leah, please get out of my room, Quinn and I have to practice." The two ran from his room whispering to each other and giggling. "Katie is supposed to be nineteen, she is actually Jeremy's twin, but she rarely acts like it, sorry." Quinn laughed again and sat down on his bed with ease.

"So how far did you get with the har-"

"Finished. I worked with Dad, and my guitar teacher who does the composing classes at the LMEC." He handed her the sheet music with her part highlighted.

"Oh wow Artie, this looks great! I can see where you get your talent from! Now lets impress that music genius of a father you've got there."

**This was kind of a filler chapter, just introducing the family. I am working on the fourth one right now, and it might be up this weekend. **

**If you have any suggestions I would love to hear them!**

**Thanks!  
**


	4. Tonight There will be no Morning Star

Tweaking only a few of the notes and parts, they finally got the song down after about an hour of intense work.

"Quinn, have I ever told you that you have a beautiful voice?" Artie blushed again, Quinn noticed that he tended to do that a lot around her, she was slightly flattered.

"Oh thanks Artie, so do you, I have always been impressed by it, especially in _Dream a Little Dream of Me_." He blushed yet again; this time Quinn was expecting it. "Hey Artie, I have a question to ask you." She said it so quietly that Artie took a second before realizing that she had said something.

"Yeah, go ahead."

"Well the other day you said you weren't having the best day, I was just wondering if you were alright."

"Oh! Well it's actually my go to excuse for saying something stupid. I use it a lot actually."

"No way! Me too, I'm sorry I thought that you might have broken up with Brittany or something like that. Oh my goodness! I am so sorry for saying that out loud, I'm not having a good day!" To her surprise Artie burst out laughing. "What?" She snapped.

He recoiled slightly, "Oh its just that we were just talking about that was our excuse for saying something stupid, unless you are actually not having a good day, then I extend my greatest apologies to you."

She made a face, _"I extend my greatest apologies to you_? Hey Rachel where did you put Artie?" Again, almost simultaneously the two cracked up, their faces turning purple. Only a soft knock at the door brought them back to their senses.

"Quinn, dear, I was wondering if you would like to stay for dinner and then a movie, it's getting awfully late, and it is starting to rain." Caroline poked her head in.

"That would be great! My mom has to work late tonight anyway, so if it's no trouble I would love to stay."

"That's wonderful, dinner will be on in about twenty minutes." She closed the door quietly, leaving the two smelling wild rice and salmon.

Quinn looked around his room without saying anything about the nerdy posters until, "Ravenclaw Artie, really? That is probably the least important house in all of Hogwarts."

"Well actually Hufflepuff was until Edward Cullen played pretty-boy Diggory."

"No! Don't you dare compare Cedric Diggory to anything related to the T-word! Just because the same actor played them does not mean that they are related in any way! I _hate_ it when Harry Potter and that _stuff_ is compared!" Her face was turning red and her nostrils were flared.

"No, no Quinn I didn't mean it like that, it was um a joke." He started playing with his sheet music while she gave him a death glare. "My whole family hates the T-word as well, you think I would have learned from that." Her look didn't falter. "Look, Quinn, I-I-I'm sorry!" he gasped.

Finally she cracked a smile, "Fine, I forgive you, just this once though."

"Artie! Quinn! Dinner is on!" Leah, the youngest of the family came barging in to Artie's room.

"OK, Lee, we're going to be there in a second, can you show Quinn to the guest bathroom so she can wash her hands?"

"But can't she use yours?" Artie turned pink and violently shook his head no.

Thankfully, Quinn seemed to sense his embarrassment and said, "It's OK Leah, if I use the guest bathroom than we can eat dinner faster!"

"Oh yeah! You can follow me, it's right next to the kitchen!" Artie mouthed, "Thank you" and Quinn returned with a "No problem" and followed Leah to the bathroom.

* * *

"So, Artie, where did you find this one? She seems much smarter, not to mention hotter, than your last girlfriend. I can see that you are turning into quite the player, nice work bro." Jeremy announced as soon as they had finished saying Grace.

Artie choked on his asparagus and managed to say, "Quinn and I are _not_ dating, and Brittany and I still are. Please, just eat your food." Jeremy smirked at him until he glanced at his mother, who was giving him a look that would even terrify Puck, and busied himself with taking the bones out of his fish. After that little incident dinner went well, and Quinn learned that Caroline was a English teacher at Lima Central Catholic High School, Jeremy went to University of Michigan, and Katie went to Notre Dame both of whom were home on winter break. Leah however was a fifth grader who wanted to go to Yale and become a cartoon artist, Keith, on the other hand played about five different sports and was apparently a star in every single one of them.

"So guys, how about movie time?" Eric asked when everyone had been sufficiently stuffed thanks to Caroline. "Whose turn is it to pick a genre?"

"What we do is one person picks a genre, another person picks three movies, and one picks it out of those three." Artie whispered into Quinn's ear while Katie chose musical, Caroline chose _West Side Story_, _The Phantom of the Opera_, and _The Sound of Music_, Leah picked _West Side_ out of the three.

"_West Side Story_ it is! Ok everyone get in your pajamas, were meeting down here in fifteen minutes to make sundaes, Quinn, why don't you go up with Katie and she can lend you some of hers."

"Oh, Eric, I really shouldn't change if I'm just going home after the movie!"

"Quinn, it's raining," Artie mumbled, "it gets really slippery out, I hate to sound like a creeper, but I think it would be safest for you to wait for it to stop, which might take a while."

"Artie, I'm pretty sure I will be fine." She whispered back to him. His face got kind of twisted and he just shrugged and left the table to go to his room.

"Hey, Quinn, why don't you come up with me and we can get you some pajamas," Katie said. Quinn followed her up the stairs to a small second floor. "It's just me and Jeremy who live up here, so most of the time it's used as storage." Katie pushed open her door and riffled through her drawers until she handed Quinn a pair of sweat pants and a tee shirt. Noticing her hesitancy Katie said, "Look Quinn, I know this is all kind of awkward and everything, but do you know why Artie can't walk?"

"Sort of, I mean I know that he and your mom were in a car accident when he was eight, but that is it." Quinn looked down at her sock feet, fearing what she would hear next.

"Right, but it was raining really badly like tonight, Mom lost control of her car and they crashed into a bunch of other cars." Quinn looked horrified and ashamed, "It doesn't help that the anniversary of his accident is next week."

"Oh my goodness, Katie, I-I-I don't know what to say. I'm so sorry." Quinn looked as if she might cry.

"Quinn, it's fine, trust me. I just wanted to let you know that's why he and mom are acting really weirdly." Quinn nodded but did not look any better. "Our bathroom is right down the hall." She nodded numbly and slowly walked out of Katie's pink room. "Quinn, it's OK, you did nothing wrong, but can you try to act like I didn't tell you anything?"

"Yeah." She whispered, but that did not change how she felt about what she did at all.

* * *

Quinn found herself snug on one of the Abram's squishy couches between Artie and Leah, holding what was possibly the biggest bowl of ice cream she had ever seen in her entire life. When the lights were dimmed and the movie started to play, she found herself thinking not about Tony and Maria, but about herself and Artie. Once she was moving her feet and they ran another pair, with a jolt of energy she realized that they were Artie's. Slowly she entwined their feet, which were luckily covered by a blanket so Jeremy wouldn't make any snide remarks.

About an hour later she was woken up by Leah screaming when Riff and Bernardo died, she looked around and suddenly noticed that her head was on Artie's shoulder. She sat up faster than a bolt of lighting and saw that Jeremy was smirking at her. She looked over to Artie and whispered into his ear, "Sorry Artie, I must have fallen asleep."

"Anytime, Quinn." Instead of blushing, they smiled.

**Sorry Twilight lovers, I had to let a little bit of that out!**

**Thanks to everyone who has reviewed this story, it means a lot to me!**

**P.S. I wish I owned Harry Potter (probably the best thing ever written in history), but I don't. I don't own Twilight or West Side either.  
**


	5. Toe Jamming and American Girl Dolls

**Sorry it took me so long to update, one word- exams. Thanks for all the reviews! I appreciate all of them!**

Over the next day after she left the Abrams, Quinn went through her normal Sunday activities and she found her mind wandering to Artie and those blue eyes. During church, brunch with her mother and grandparents, studying for her physics test, and making brownies for the other volunteers at the local SPCA. She had no clue why she was thinking about Artie like this, she was supposed to be dating _Sam_ not Artie. But that was exactly it, she didn't feel scared or worried that he would push her to do something that she didn't want to do when she was with Artie. It was different with Sam and Finn, not only did she have to constantly be on her guard but she felt as if she could only be the head cheerleader and not her nerdy self.

Quinn was glad it was Monday so she would stop thinking about a certain boy and on stuff that mattered, like school, cheerleading, glee, and volunteering (in short- what would get her out of Ohio). Yet again on her way from French to Spanish (she was a natural at languages) Quinn was thinking about Artie.

"Heard you spent the night at wheel's house. I didn't know that his type could get it on, Brittany must have been telling the truth." Santana's sharp voice broke Quinn's thoughts as she spun around angrily.

"What on earth are you talking about Santana? Artie and I were working on our duet's project and the weather got really bad! I would like to remind you that Artie is a person to, and I am sure he can 'get it on' so why don't you just leave him alone!" Quinn snapped back, she was sure that her face was bright red by this point. Santana just smirked at her and stalked off to her next class.

"Hey, Quinn, um thanks." Quinn spun around in her anger and almost ran into Artie. He was sitting there, his face purple with embarrassment ready to turn around as fast as he could.

"Oh! Artie! I didn't know you were there. I, uh, hope you had a good day yesterday after I left."

"Yeah it was fine, I was wondering if you wanted to rehearse one more time before we perform tomorrow."

"Sure! I have volunteering at the SPCA after glee until seven, but I could pick you up after that and we could go to my house this time."

His face turned even purpler as he said, "I would prefer to be around my house at that time, if you don't mind." He twisted his hands in his lap and suddenly spit out, "Mom is also making pecan pie tonight, so that is why… I mean. I'm sorry I should go." He turned around so fast that he ran over her toes, as she let out a gasp of pain he managed to get out, "Oh my gosh, Quinn, a-a-are you alright?"

"Never knew you were so heavy Abrams." Quinn let out a shaky laugh while she winced as she tried to put her foot down.

"You need to go to the nurse Quinn." She shook her head quickly, "I know you have a huge French quiz, I saw you studying after our Physics test, but you look really hurt." Her eyes started to water as he pulled her down onto his lap, "I'll give you a ride." Artie whispered into her ear as he started to maneuver down the crowded hallway.

* * *

Quinn drove up to Artie's house that night, after a quick Subway run, for the second time in less than a week. She didn't feel nervous as she rang the doorbell like she did when she went over to Sam or Finn's house, and was oddly comforted by that fact.

"Quinn! Hi! I missed you!" Quinn barley even saw the front door open before Leah attacked her. "Artie is in the bathroom right now but can you come see the new dress I got for my American Girl Doll?"

"Sure honey! I missed you too." Quinn practically had to run after Leah, barley having time to give a quick hello to Eric and Caroline. She suddenly realized why Artie was so reserved that morning about coming over to her house.

"Hey, Quinn, I'm hate to do it, but I'm going to have to kidnap you from Leah." Little did Quinn know, but Artie had been watching them for about two minutes while Quinn carefully fingered every dress that Leah passed her. He felt an overwhelming swoop of gratitude towards Quinn, Brittany would never do that, and come to think of it Leah always ran away from Tina. He assumed that came from Tina's sense of style.

"OK, Leah I'll come over to see more again OK?" Leah nodded as Quinn stood up and followed her brother out of the room.

* * *

"Quinn, you seem to get better every time I hear you sing! How much did you practice yesterday?" Artie stared up in her in amazement as she hit the last high note crystal-clear and beautiful. To his surprise her face crumpled. "Is your toe OK? I know it's only jammed and everything but- I'm sorry if I did anything!"

She sat down on his bed and said slowly, "You don't have to be embarrassed in front of me Artie." He looked at her in confusion, "Today, right before the whole toe-jamming escapade you seemed really embarrassed by everything I said."

"Quinn- I don't want to scare you away, I only started talking to you last week, but I would like us to stay friends for at least a little while, and I don't want to frighten you with my complications." She looked at him for a second, got off his bed, and drew him in for a hug. Suddenly they found their lips touching... Artie thought he must be dreaming, kissing Quinn Fabray? Quinn thought that this was the sweetest kiss she had ever had, but she needed to get out of there before she got carried away.

"I have to go Artie, I'm sorry I did that, I have to go." Before he could say a word she was gone.

**I have no clue where I am going to take this. Any suggestions?**

**Thanks so much for reading!**


	6. Tears go with Pecan Pie

**Yet again I have been lazy- this time there is no excuse- I just started new classes this week so homework is nil, we have had snow days galore, and yet I haven't updated.**

**I'm going to take this on past January because there is NO way that I am going to get it finished by then. Please review- I love getting every one!  
**

The entire way home silent tears ran down Quinn's face no matter how many times she told herself that she was dating one of the most popular boys in school, getting straight A's, volunteering at the SPCA, and the head cheerleader; nothing helped. The more she cried the more she felt a big gaping hole in her stomach, as if a sudden black hole was formed that was eating away what she had left. As she turned onto Delray Street she saw her old obstetrician's office and suddenly she had to pull over because her tears were blocking her vision. Finally she understood that she was not only crying for her masked love life but for everything that she had lost in her life time, her grandma who was more of a mother to her than her own, her father, her own mother, her daughter, but most shocking of all was that she finally realized that she had lost herself in her frenzy to become popular. Gone were the days of sneaking ice cream bars with her grandma, gone were the days of being able to wake up and just walk out of the house without worrying about the state of her pores. Never again could she walk up to a random person to give a friendly hello without worrying about what they would do to her social status. But the saddest thing that overwhelmed her was that she would never be able to date Artie no matter what she felt for him. As soon as that thought crossed her head she almost started punching herself. Screw what everyone else thought of her. Screw them, she thought, why does their opinion matter? Why should I break my neck for someone who I don't even care about? Before she knew it the moping Quinn was gone, and the powerful Quinn was back, this time with a new motive.

* * *

Artie watched in disbelief as Quinn shot out of his room like a bolt of lightning had struck her. He didn't know how long he stared at his open door until realizing that his vision was obstructed by tears. Somehow he managed to fumble his way to shut his door and get in his bed before breaking down. "What is wrong with me," he tortured himself over and over again, he told his mother that he didn't want any of her pecan pie, and when Leah came to get him to read a bed time story he pretended he was asleep. Why him? He had asked himself that questions numerous times before, after the accident, when his golden retriever died, the time he first got slushied. His mother told him that God did certain things to people because He knew that they could handle it. "Yeah right, well, this is one thing I can't handle." After thinking that he almost started punching himself. His mother was right, God knew he could handle it, and that was exactly what he planed to do. He reached over and grabbed his phone. Before he could get Quinn's number his phone started to ring, it was Quinn.

"Artie? Can I come over right now?" She sounded upset.

"Quinn! Are you OK? It's almost ten!"

"We need to talk."

"Um, I'm not sure that's such a great idea, Leah is already in bed."

"Artie," her voice sounded dangerous, "We. Need. To. Talk."

"Uh, OK, come right over." Without even saying goodbye she hung up.

* * *

"Hey Quinn, my mom left some pecan pie out if you want any," Artie said to his feet.

"I'm sorry about the phone call, but I really need to talk with you, and I would love some pie!" She ended her sentence with a giggle. He grabbed two slices of pie and two glasses of milk to put on a tray. "Oh, I got that!" Quinn swooped in from nowhere and grabbed the tray from his lap.

"You look like Fleur in that picture above one of the chapters in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince," noticing her frown he quickly said, "in a good way of course." They made there way into the den and settled down on the same couch where they watched _West Side Story_.

"Listen, Artie, I'm really sorry about what happened earlier today, and I'm sorry."

"What are you sorry for? Did I say that aloud?"

"Yes, Artie, you did." She laughed at his purple face.

"What I meant to say was, I'm sorry too, um could you not bring this up at school?"

"I have a boyfriend you know, it's not like I make a habit of kissing other guys and then telling him."

"No, not that! I mean obviously were not going to tell anyone about the kiss-"

"You and Quinn kissed!" Jeremy burst into the den followed closely by Keith who were laughing hysterically. "Hoo- I didn't know you had it in you little bro, that must have been why you shut yourself in to your room all evening, just not used to it."

"Jeremy Robert Abrams! Keith Garland Abrams! Get out of there and leave your brother and Quinn alone!" Caroline stomped in as softly as she could and grabbed the two by the collars of their shirts. "Sorry guys," she said as she lead the two boys out of the room.

You could have fried an egg on Artie's face it was so red by that point, "I can't _wait _until he goes back to school, it's just one more week and then freedom!"

Quinn was blushing as well, but was still focused on the reason why she was there, "You were saying?"

"Oh right, well, uh this week, Friday actually, is uh…" he stopped smiling and turned a sort of greenish color and was silent until he blurted out, "Friday is the anniversary of my accident, and I have been known to do some stupid things around this time, and I may not be acting like I should, and that was just another excuse." Quinn didn't know what to do; she could comfort him, laugh at his new excuse, or thank him.

"Artie, thank you for telling me, it means a lot that you told me that," He nodded and smiled at her, "and I don't really know why I kissed you, I guess that I was overwhelmed or something, I really like Sam, and it was a mistake." She tried to believe herself while she watched his face twist up and be silent for about thirty seconds.

Finally he said, "then we are at an agreement, I guess I will see you tomorrow for our performance." Not trusting herself to speak she took their dishes into the kitchen and walked out of the house, not knowing if she would ever see it again.


	7. The Performance

**I'm not even going to make an excuse for my absence. **

**Also- I was reading through and I noticed a mistake in Chapter 3. When I said Laura I meant Caroline. Oops!**

**Thanks for all the reviews! They mean a lot to me.  
**

"This is our fait, I'm yours," The perfect harmony sounded through the choir room like birds singing on a spring morning. Quinn was looking at Artie as she had never looked at him before. The look in his eyes was meaningful and true, and Quinn never thought that he looked as attractive as he did then, she could look into his eyes forever and never get bored of being lost in a sea of perfect blue.

The sudden outbreak of applause broke Quinn from her trance, and she took one last glance at Artie before looking for Sam.

Instead of being happy as she expected, Sam was staring daggers at her from the back row. He mouthed, "We need to talk." Quinn broke his gaze by looking down at her snow-white sneakers. Not being able to resist, she snuck another look at Artie, expecting Brittany to practically be on top of him, but instead his eyes were downcast and Brittany was sitting with Santana, it looked as if they were discussing him with a hostile tone.

Quinn tried to pay attention to the other songs, but her mind kept wandering to Artie and Sam. She could hardly remember the other performances except for Mike's modern dance moves to a song set during the time period of the Spanish Inquisition, and Tina and Puck shouting at each other in the middle of their song. Other than that it was a complete blur.

* * *

When glee was dismissed Quinn tried to bolt to her car, but Sam caught up with her too quickly.

"What the hell was that, Quinn?" He spun her around so quickly Quinn was afraid she would fall down. Silent tears poured over her face and she just shook her head that was full of confusion. "Answer me Quinn, please, just answer me!" His anger had quickly turned into sadness.

"I don't know Sam, I really don't know. I-I think we should take a break or something."

He shook his head bitterly, "No, I know that you just want to be with that nerd over there, so we are done. Hopefully Brittany is smart enough to let him go too, so you two can go off prancing around together."

"Sam! Stop! I'm sorry, I just don't know what is going on in my head right now. I really like you, but I don't know. Please don't be mad at me," she said, looking down at her shoes.

"Stop, Quinn, just stop." Without a backwards look Sam turned around and marched off to the parking lot that was not reserved for the Honor-Roll students.

* * *

Artie maneuvered down the halls with what seemed like one hundred pounds of confused thoughts sitting on his head. The main part was that general gloom-slash-depression that plagued him and his whole family during this time of year, and was going to reach its climax on Friday. But a small part of him was relieved mixed with happy and a tiny bit of sad thrown in there thanks to breaking up with Brittany. He didn't know what made him do it. Maybe it was his frustration, or the fact that he could feel that she was pulling away too, or possibly his feelings for another girl. Quinn Fabray to be exact.

**I have never had a boyfriend so if the breakup was completely off please tell me!**


	8. Reconnecting

**A/N: So I'm going to be somewhat lazy and kind of skid through the next few months to be around the months of April/May and hopefully catch up to June in the next few weeks. School is winding down so I will be writing (hopefully) a lot more frequently. Thanks for reading!**

Over the next few months Artie and Quinn skirted around each other and their respective exes. What with preparing for nationals, studying for the AP season, and the general end of the year push both of them were extremely busy. Artie's family calmed down from the anniversary of the accident, his siblings went back to school, and Keith made the Varsity Football team (no surprise there). Quinn's father remained absent and her sister announced that she was having a baby. The news about the baby was not as joyful as it should have been because of what had happened the previous year, but nonetheless tears were shed and baby shower plans were made.

The two still talked but it was mostly about school and limited to about five minutes. But every time, a spark flickered brighter than the sun but was then shattered by the bell, friends, or teachers. At glee rehearsals everyone was so focused on Nationals that no one found time to talk about personal things, even Tina and Mike were focused on something other than kissing.

* * *

On the plane home from Nationals however, Artie and Quinn found themselves seated right next to each other because it seemed that everyone had found someone to sit next to except them.

"Hey," Artie said quietly as Quinn sat down than looked quickly down at his SAT prep book.

"Hey." Quinn returned, but instead of looking away she stared at him, head on until he realized that she did not intend to spend the entire plane ride in silence.

"Uh, nice weather we are having," he pointed out the window that was covered in rain. Realizing his mistake he tried to remedy himself by saying, "I mean to a fish it would be nice weather if its not acid rain."

"I don't think that many fish actually realize that its raining when they live in a lake or ocean."

"Yeah, when I was a kid I was worried where they went during those thunder breaks at the beach."

Quinn laughed and said, "I miss you Artie." When he looked surprised she said, "I mean we hung out a lot during our glee project, and that was just a lot of fun. I wish we had more excuses to hang out together."

"You need excuses to hang out with me?" Artie didn't look hurt, he just had a somewhat surprised look on his face.

"No! No, I didn't mean it like that Artie, I mean, I, well, I don't know what I mean," she finished lamely.

"Come again?"

"I wish I spent more time with you these past few months instead of being scared of my emotions and staying as far away from you as possible." She said this all very fast and had a hard time stringing two words together.

"I, uh wow, Quinn, what are you saying?" He too, like Quinn could not get the words to go out of his mouth.

"I don't know Artie, I just really want to get to know you better."

"Why are you telling me this now and not like two months ago, I'm not mad, I just want to know."

Quinn shook her head and said in a timid voice, "I was scared, I didn't want to hear no as an answer."

Artie smiled, took her hand and said, "Great minds think alike."

**I feel like my dialogue tends to be short/choppy/fast, if any of you have any tips at all please tell me!**

**Reviews are lovely. **


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